Microlender, 1st to List in India, Trades Higher
By Vikas Bajaj
MUMBAI (NYT) : The first microfinance company to sell stock
to the public in India got a strong
endorsement from investors on Monday when its shares closed up 10.5
percent on the first day of trading.
The strong showing for the company, SKS Microfinance, is expected to
encourage other lenders to the poor to
prepare initial public offerings, analysts said. The offering is also likely to
stoke an already fierce debate about
whether microfinance companies,
many of which like SKS started as
nonprofit organizations, should earn

substantial profits by making highinterest loans to the poor.
SKS, which makes loans to women
in rural India, raised more than $350
million in its public offering, one of
the most successful in the country this
year. It sold 16.8 million shares at 985
rupees ($21) earlier this month; the
shares closed Monday at 1,088.65 rupees on the National Stock Exchange
of India.
“There was a lot of demand for the
stock because of its novelty value,”
said Pankaj Agarwal, an analyst at
the securities firm Execution Noble.
“There is no doubt about it: the suc-

cess of this I.P.O. will bring more
I.P.O.’s.”
Analysts say a handful of fastgrowing Indian microfinance companies like Spandana Sphoorty Financial and Share Microfin could
quickly follow SKS in selling shares
to the public.
Globally, SKS is one of five microfinance companies and banks to have
publicly listed shares. The other four
are Bank Rykat of Indonesia, BRAC
Bank of Bangladesh, Compartamos
Banco of Mexico and Equity Bank
of Kenya.
continued on page

26

SKS Microfinance lends to rural women, like this bangle vendor, to
help them earn money.

India has been a particularly fertile ground for microfinance loans
because its formal banking system
does not reach much of its population. A study a few years ago found
that just 40 percent of the country’s
households have a bank or postal
savings account.
Furthermore, Indian banking rules
require that 40 percent of every
bank’s loan portfolio be in “priority
sectors” — a requirement that banks
can meet in part by lending money to
and buying loans from microfinance
companies like SKS. That has made
it relatively easy for Indian microfinance companies to raise the money
they need to make loans.
SKS, which became a for-profit
company in 2003, has grown at an
incredible pace since 2006. As of
March, it had $634 million in loans
outstanding, up from $306 million
just 12 months earlier. Moreover, the

company said less than 1 percent of
its loans were delinquent.
Several prominent investors like
Vinod Khosla, George Soros and Sequoia Ventures have invested in SKS
over the years, attracted by its mission
of eradicating poverty in India, strong
growth and enviable profit margins
18 percent in its last fiscal year.
But the lender has also been dogged
by controversy, including questions
about how the two nonprofit groups
that provided money to help establish
the for-profit SKS would spend the
wealth that they earned from shares
they sold in the public offering and
shares they still own.
Agarwal and other analysts are also
concerned about how well SKS and
other microfinance companies will
maintain their low delinquency rates
and high growth rates. Some analysts
and researchers worry that intense
competition among lenders could
lead to substantially higher defaults.

b u s in e s s

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

KV Kamath Likely to Succeed Infosys’ Murthy as Chairman
BANGALORE (Economic
Times): KV Kamath, the man
who transformed ICICI from a
stodgy, old-school bank into an
aggressive and nimble-footed
lender, is being considered for
the post of chairman at Infosys
Technologies, India’s software
bellwether. Though Infosys’
board nominations committee
has not taken any final decision,
Mr Kamath’s business credentials, wide-ranging contacts,
name recognition, and troubleshooting expertise have propelled
him ahead of others, people close to
the development said.
Kamath, 62, is a member of the Infosys nominations committee. Last
year, he helped ICICI Bank manage
a successful leadership transition,
passing on the baton to Chanda
Kochhar before stepping down as
CEO in May. Narayana Murthy,

who will retire from Infosys in August next year, and other Infy founders hold Kamath in high regard.
When contacted by ET on Sunday,
Cornell University professor Jeffrey
Sean Lehman, who along with Kamath, and HDFC Standard Life CEO,
Deepak M Satwalekar, is responsible
for finding Murthy’s replacement,
declined to share any specific details.

But he said it’s technically feasible
for one of the nominations committee members to be considered for the
chairman’s post.
“You may be rest assured that Infosys is taking the selection of the next
Chair with great seriousness,” said
Lehman, the committee chairman.
“I trust you will understand that we
do not respond to speculation about
who that person might be. We will
make a decision and we will make a
public announcement with appropriate lead time before Mr Murthy steps
down,” he added. Satwalekar added,
“There is no firming up as of now.
It would not be accurate to say that
he has been chosen.” ET has learnt
that the announcement is expected
later year.
Detailed emails sent to Murthy and
Kamath remained unanswered until
Sunday evening. Kamath could not
be reached on his cell phone either.

Government Panel Says No
to Vedanta’s Orissa Project
NEW DELHI (IANS): A government panel on Monday said Vedanta Resources’ bauxite mining in
Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills could not
be allowed unless the local tribal
communities give their consent and
village councils agree to the use of
forest land for the project.
The panel, investigating violations of the Forest Rights Act and
environmental norms by the mining company in the Niyamgiri hills
in Kalahandi district, said that allowing mining in the area would
shake the faith of tribal people.
“The committee is of the firm
view that allowing mining in the
proposed mining lease area by depriving two primitive tribal groups
-- Kutia and Dongaria Kondh -- of
their rights over the proposed mining site in order to benefit a private
company (Vedanta) would shake
the faith of tribal people in the laws
of the land,” said the four-member
panel, headed by National Advisory Council member N C Saxena.
The committee said that since
Vedanta has repeatedly violated
the law, allowing it further access
to the proposed mining area at the

cost of the rights of the tribes will
have serious consequences for the
security and well-being of the entire
country.
The tribals, who hold the hills
sacred, have been opposing the
project and due to the controversy,
some of the investors of Vedanta
have even withdrawn their shares.
The environment ministry will now
have to take a call on the fate of the
project.
Environment and forest ministerJairam Ramesh on Saturday said
the government would not tolerate
any violation of the Forest Act by
any corporate and would decide the
future of the Vedanta project after
the panel submitted its report.
Britain-based Vedanta Alumina,
part of the Anil Agarwal-promoted
Vedanta Resources Plc, has built an
alumina refinery at an investment
of $800 million at the foot of the
hills, where production has already
started.
The firm, which is currently
sourcing bauxite from other states
at market rates, said mining permission in the hills was essential for it to
reduce the cost of production.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed
confidence that inflation would come
down further even as the rate of price
rise after a gap of five months came
down in single digit at 9.97 per cent
in July.
“Of course, it will moderate,” he
told reporters, when asked about the
possibility of inflation sliding further
in coming months. “Policy rates had
some impact (on sliding inflation) but
there are also base factors,” Mukher
Mukherjee said expressing satisfaction over
declining inflation.
The Minister attributed slide in
inflation of food items to seasonal factors “particularly in respect of some
food items like fruits, vegetables and
milk”. After remaining in double

digits since February, the wholesale
price-based inflation fell to single
digit at 9.97 per cent in July, owing to
decline in prices of certain food and
non-food items.
The inflation was at 10.55 per cent
in June, while for May it was revised
upwards to 11.14 per cent from the
provisional number of 10.16 per cent.
Inflation entered the double digits in
February when it climbed to 10.06
per cent, as per the final figures.
Inflation has become a political
sensitive issue with the Opposition
raising in within and outside Parliament. Led by NDA, the opposition
parties organised an all India strike
on July 5 to protest against rising
inflation and the hike in prices of
petroleum products.

NEW YORK (Time): Shares of
Indian travel agency MakeMyTrip
Ltd. soared as much as 80 percent
in their market debut on the Nasdaq
exchange, even
as the broader
markets declined.
It could be the
best first-day
performance
for an IPO this
year. Financial advisory
firm Financial
Engines Inc.,
which so far has
posted the top first-day return, closed
up nearly 44 percent in its debut in
mid-March.
MakeMyTrip Ltd. began as a website in the U.S., mainly serving Indian
expats wanting to travel to India. In
2005, it began operations in India,
offering airline tickets as well as
hotel bookings, bus tickets and other
services to the country’s fast growing demographic of middle-class
consumers. MakeMyTrip cites data
from consultancy firm McKinsey
saying that the Indian middle class
is expected to grow from 50 million
people in 2005 to 583 million people
in 2025.
India has a much smaller segment
of its population on the Internet than
the U.S. does, and the company says
its revenue will rise as increasingly
wealthy Indians get online.

The company’s revenue grew
throughout the recession. In the year
ended March 31, 1.6 million domestic air ticket transactions were booked

through MakeMyTrip’s website in
India, up from 1.2 million in the previous 12 months.
But some analysts expressed sur
surprise at MakeMyTrip’s performance
Thursday, saying the company has
never posted an annual operating
profit and faces competition from
Indian versions of big travel sites such
as Expedia Inc. and Travelocity.
MakeMyTrip plans to use proceeds

for acquisitions, new investments in
technology and for working capital.
The company raised $70 million by
pricing 5 million shares for $14 each,
the high end of its expected $12-$14
range.
In midday trading, shares gained
$10.30, or 74 percent, to $24.30 on
the Nasdaq, having risen as high as
$25.16 earlier in the session. Another Thursday IPO debut, real estate
software company RealPage Inc.,
also jumped $3.05, or 28 percent, to
$14.05. Meanwhile, broader markets
dipped further after big losses on
Wednesday, with the Standard &
Poor’s 500 dropping 0.4 percent.
It’s a good sign for companies
wanting to raise funds through the
IPO market. Many companies have
postponed their offerings because of
weak demand from investors wary
of the stock market, or had to cut the
prices on shares steeply to get to mar
market. RealPage, for example, priced
shares at $11 apiece, significantly below expectations. It had hoped shares
would fetch $13 to $15 each.

Purchase Discount Zoo
Tickets at any of the 33
Fiesta Mart stores. Visit
the courtesy booth of Any
Fiesta Mart to purchase an
adult zoo admission for $9
and a child zoo admission
for $6. - IA News
VISIT THE HOUSTON ZOO THIS WEEK

Since his days in IIT Delhi, Navyug Mohnot has been a passionate photographer and designer. Today, despite his busy schedule as CEO
of IT consultancy QAI, he manages to find time to engage in his pursuits. Himanshu Kakkar caught up with him recently.
By HimansHu
H kakkar
(Outlook) For Navyug Mohnot,
the world is truly flat. The CEO
of IT consultancy firm QAI (Quality Assurance Institute) is a design,
photography and architecture fanatic,
and loves to capture the third dimension of space with his lens, “reducing
it to flat geometry, proportion, and
abstraction”.
Mohnot points at a picture of a hotel
roof in Oman: “The idea behind my
photographs is to remove the context
and perspective. I click only a beautiful part of it and not the whole. Now
it’s just form and proportion. It’s like
an abstract painting—you interpret it
the way you want to.” Then he moves
to a series of photographs showing
the London Eye. “Everyone shows
the London Eye full circle. I went
away from it to a garden, which had
sculptors, and shot it from there.”
The QAI chief says his passion for
photography and design began dur
during his IIT-Delhi days. He avers that
life on campus was the most “awesome” experience he has ever had.
Not because of the classroom, teachers, or the text books but because
“everyone totally leaves you alone.
Nobody cares or asks. That gives you
space to do your own thing”.
The conducive environment was
just what he needed to cultivate his
photography and design skills. In the
years that followed, the wall shelves
of his hostel room would be adorned
with trophies. Mohnot’s greatest moment came during the screening of a
22-minute audio-visual he made at
the inauguration of ‘Rendezvous’,
IIT-Delhi’s annual festival. It was
titled 80205, after the roll number
of the protagonist in the film, and,
through a series of photographs, depicted the transformation of a typical
IITian during his five-year stint at
IIT.
At A Crossroads
When he passed out of IIT in 1985,
Mohnot was faced with a dilemma:
he had to choose between pursuing
a PhD in management from Rochester University in the US or take up

“ The beauty of
the work at QAI is
that I get to travel
a lot. I go and
stay in the coolest
hotel in a city and
photograph stuff.”
photography and design. Eventually,
he decided to keep “design, photography and art as a hobby and pursue his
profession for bread and butter.” And
so, he joined Rochester University,
where he started conducting research
for his professor, earning $10 an hour
for his trouble. Somewhere down the
line, Mohnot came across a write-up
on QAI, a company in the area of
process improvement and quality
management. “That was the a-ha moment for me,” says Mohnot.
The visionary in him sensed a huge
opportunity in India. “There was no
proper software industry in India
at the time, with only two or three
companies around. But India could
be big in software and to be big, you
need quality.”And so, in 1988, having
decided to leave his Ph.D at the Rochester University, he approached Bill

software industry to help it grow.
QAI started providing process improvement and quality management
consulting services even before India
had an IT industry to speak of. In
the years that followed, it would
make the PCMM framework, which
focuses on three points—people,
processes and technology—famous.
Organisations looking to build their
reputation for quality used it to take
their performance up several notches.
“QAI played a huge role in India
to bring awareness around quality,
which has been the bedrock of the
IT industry’s growth in India,” says
Mohnot proudly.
Over the years, the company grew
along with the IT industry. But the
defining moment for Mohnot came in
2008. “Bill Perry (who was in his 70s)
Perry, the founder
of QAI, with a
simple, self-drafted MoU, seeking
an alliance. Perry,
who was clueless
about India at that
time, liked his audacious proposal
and asked him
to represent QAI
in India. Mohnot
recollects, “I bor
borrowed money
from my sister
in the US and
bought an Apple
Laser 2E printer to
take back to India. I sold the printer for
Rs 97,800 in India and this became
the capital for the start-up.” After
representing the company in India for
five years, he set up the Indian unit of
QAI, in 1993, as a joint venture with
the QAI, USA.
Mohnot draws parallels with the
California Gold Rush. “Everyone
ran after the gold. But there was one
company which said: we’ll supply the
pots and pans—that was QAI.” The
company’s business model revolved
around providing training, consultancy, methodology and tools to the

called me and said he was consider
considering retirement and spending more
time on the golfing greens.” Mohnot
spotted a huge opportunity. With the
backing of BTS Investment Advisor,
a Swiss tech fund, he bought the company for under $15 million in 2008,
according to reports. Today, he has
taken it places. QAI has now offices
in Malasiya, Singapore and China,
besides USA, UK and India.
Design Freak
“My passion is design thinking.
Photography, architecture, corporate
communication and brand identity all

emanate from it,” asserts Mohnot. He
is involved in designing everything,
from his house, to a QAI brochure, to
the company’s Delhi and Bangalore
offices. “A CEO should be effecting
multi-lakh deals with clients and not
drawing graphics for them, but that’s
what I do,” he says with a laugh.
Noni Sehmbi, a graphic designer
at QAI, agrees. “He’s our unofficial
Art Director. From office interiors to
planning great conferences to serious corporate communications, he is
there.” Sehmbi says that every input
from Mohnot, be it a little detail in
a brochure, a small colour change
in a report make a big difference to
a design.
Despite his busy schedule, Mohnot
finds time for his pastimes. “I truly
believe that you will always have
the time if you want to do
something.” However, he
isn’t interested in walking
away from everything to take
up his hobbies full-time. He
loves his job and the travel
that’s involved, which lets
him indulge in his passions.
“The beauty of the work at
QAI is that I get to travel a lot.
I have a rule: I go and stay in
the coolest hotel in a city and
photograph stuff.” Be it Las
Vegas, Dubai, Bali or Shanghai, he has captured the ar
architectural style of the best
buildings in the city and flattened it. For him, there’s no
line between life and work.
It’s been a seamless journey all the
way. Mohnot uses an example from
his routine to describe his philosophy.
“I always reach the airport 90 minutes
early for a domestic flight and three
hours early for an international one
because I don’t want to be seated in
the middle and window seats, I need
the aisle seat.” Looking at this writer’s
quizzical expression, he explains: “In
life, too, you need to be sitting on the
aisle seat so you can get up, walk and
do whatever you want to.” Mohnot
doesn’t let life pass by. He makes it
happen.

Rewarding other people – and yourself - in advance can indeed make a big difference.
By Prakash Iyer
SOMETHING a seemingly ordinary event can hold valuable life
lessons for us all. Like it happened at
a lunch I had with a friend some years
ago. As I recall it, the food was good,
and the conversation delightful. But
what made the lunch unforgettable
was something else altogether.
As we entered the restaurant and sat
down at our table, my host reached
for his wallet. He pulled out a hundred
rupee note and handed it to the waiter
– who accepted it with a big smile.
Now it wasn’t the size of the tip that

surprised me.
It was the timing. For the first time,
I saw someone tipping for service
even before we had ordered our meal.
Needless to say, we got treated like
royalty that afternoon. The service
was quick, the waiter seemed to be
hovering around us, and the huge
smile never left his face. And as we
walked out after an enjoyable meal, I
was left wondering: Why don’t we all
tip before a meal?
If you think about it, maybe there’s
a lesson in that for all of us that goes
beyond tipping. Rewarding other

people – and yourself - in advance
can indeed make a difference. A big
difference. So what really happened
at the restaurant that day? By paying
the tip upfront, my friend was telling
the waiter, “I know you’ll do a terrific job of looking after us!” And the
waiter was probably telling himself
“Wow! He trusts me to look after him
well. I must do all I can to live up to
his expectations.” And throughout
the afternoon, we expected great
service – and got it!
Unfortunately, most of us are
brought up on a diet of conditional

love and recognition. ‘If you come
first in class then you’ll get a wrist
watch.’ Since only one kid can come
first, that leaves the rest of us feeling
inferior, unsure about ourselves. And
yes, having no idea what time it is!
Now imagine what might have happened if your father gave you a watch
at the start of the term – and said he
knew you were a bright kid – and
expected you to do well.
You would walk around knowing that someone really smart (your
father!) thinks you are bright. And
you’d do all you could to live up to
his expectations. Would that ensure
you come first in class? No, not quite.
But would it make you do your best
and perform to your potential? You
bet! And that’s really what life is all
about.
There’s a prestigious college of
music in the UK that attracts the
brightest talents from all over the
world. The teachers faced a problem:
although the students were all extremely gifted, several of them were
becoming nervous after entering college. The students were anxious: Will
I finish at the bottom of my class?
Am I good enough? And the creative
spark required for their musical talent
to flower often went missing.
So here’s what the college did.
Every student was told upfront that he
or she would get an ‘A’ at the end of
the year. What the students had to do
was write a letter – dated the following year – explaining why they had
‘earned’ the A grade. What they had

Prakash Iyer is MD,
Kimberly-Clark and
Executive Coach

learnt, what they had achieved, and
how they had become better people.
And bingo! Soon after, the students
were going through college with less
stress – and becoming far better musicians. They were living up to their
A grades! Here’s a good exercise to
try: Award yourself ‘employee of the
year’ or ‘student of the year’ today.
Write down what the company CEO
or college Principal would be saying
about you at the end of the year. All
the great things he’d be saying about
you. Do that. And you’ll soon find
yourself doing the things you’ve written down! Rest assured, you’ll have
a terrific year!
Musicians and waiters – and you
and I - we are all just the same. Tip
upfront. Give yourself an ‘A’ today.
And let the magic begin!

Thoughts of some eminent personalities about what they thought was the one best, and the one worst, moment in the
63 years of our tumultuous democracy…
Rahul Bajaj, Industrialist
The Emergency, its peaceful rejection by the electorate and transfer
of power to electoral victors, to my
mind, represents the worst and best

ultimately led to the assassination of
Indira Gandhi and the subsequent
violence have left festering wounds.
Those were the tragic years. Unnecessarily, sentiments were raked
up, leading to the assassination of
Mrs. Gandhi. They forgot that Punjab was an integral part of India and
people there could never have been
separated. Still an attempt was made,
leading to violent incidents.
Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister,
Delhi:
The liberation of East Pakistan
and creation of Bangladesh exemplifies Indian democracy at its best.
There was a lot of euphoria and a
huge measure of pride. It would go
down in history as a major conquest,
a record 90,000 plus soldiers from
the other side surrendered. And yet
India not only treated them well
but also proved that it had no intention of holding on to the territory in
Bangladesh. We stepped out immediately.The problem in Punjab which

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chair
Chairman Aditya Birla Group
Way back in 1947, India’s independence was greeted with enormous
scepticism, given the country’s total
inexperience in running a democratic
republic. Also India’s mindboggling
diversity both, linguistic and religious
seemed to raise the hurdle rate of
success.
To me, the high watermark of India’s democracy, then, is in the institutions and mechanisms that have made
democracy a reality at the ground
level. The Election Commission of
India (ECI), constituted in 1950, has

enabled the process of elections, the
lifeblood of democracy, to be autonomous from the government of
the day. Under the stewardship of
the ECI, India has had 15 general
elections. The election process has
been strengthened considerably over
the years, and the election mandates
enjoy an extremely high degree of
legitimacy.
Today, the triumph of India’s democratic processes have won acclaim
the world over.

of Indian democracy. It meant that
we still valued freedom and would
brook no interference with it. At its
worst it meant that it was possible
for those in power to act arbitrarily,
muzzle the judiciary and the press
and make the bureaucracy supine.
At its best was the resistance to it and
the spirited fight in the 1977 elections
which rejuvenated democracy in our
country.

Girish Karnad, Playwright and
writer
It is always easier to think of the
failings of a democracy... Assassination of Gandhi and the pulling down
of the Babri Masjid spring to mind
immediately. It is harder to name big
and dramatic events that show our
democracy’s strengths. They are usually small incidents here and there.
I suppose that is how democracies
are made. One event I can think of
is Sonia Gandhi refusing to become
the prime minister of the country. In
a sense it saved the democratic state
for us.

Sharmila Tagore, Actor and MP
The Best :A Functional Democracy and the Independence of the Election Commission: For a nation
pulling in different directions, to have crores faithfully exercising their franchise despite politicians
failing them is probably our greatest achievement.
The credit goes to the Election Commission, probably the one government agency which has managed
to stay free of political influence by and large.
The Representation of Women at the Panchayat
Level: Though the Representation of Women in Par
Parliament is yet to become law, at the panchayat level
women have begun to exercise political power that
would have been unimaginable even a decade ago.
The Right to Information Act: For a nation where
disclosure of government information is governed
by a law enacted during the British rule, the Official
Secrets Act of 1889 as amended in 1923, the RTI is nothing less than a revolution. It is a landmark
legislation that for once truly empowers the common man.
The Worst: The Emergency: Probably the one defining moment of our polity. The Emergency
brought to light the worst in our political class, burying once and for all the idealism of Independence. The Demolition of the Babri Masjid: What the Emergency did to our political fibre, the
Babri demolition did to our image as a secular, peace-loving nation. That something as grotesque
as this could happen, ostensibly to right a 500-year-old wrong, remains India’s eternal shame.
Still an Unequal Society: It is close to forty years since we first heard the slogan ‘garibi hatao’,
we have seen the green and the white revolutions, yet we have starvation deaths, farmers committing suicide, mothers selling off children in exchange for a bowl of rice. According to the
Planning Commission, 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005.
And what we do is debate whether people who have the purchasing power of more than Rs.
560 p.m. in urban areas and Rs. 368 p.m. in rural areas are above the poverty line. Rampant
corruption at all levels, the insidious influence of caste, faulty planning priorities, all contribute
to a situation where our development programmes remain only on paper.
B.B. Bhattacharya, Vice Chancellor, JNU, Delhi
The strongest point of Indian democracy is that it is continuing uninterrupted since Independence. Regular parliamentary elections in a country of one billion plus people with extreme
poverty and backwardness divided by religion, language, caste and regionalism is itself a unique
feature unparalleled in the history of mankind.
Unfortunately, however, the pillars of democracy in India have begun to shake. The toler
tolerance of crime, communalism, corruption and casteism could eventually lead to a loss of trust in
democracy in India.
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 20 , 2010 • ONLINE EDI
EDIt
tION:
t
ION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

A fun-filled event that had many people smiling. “I
have never had so much fun,” said a beaming six-yearold Geetha, who is an HIV positive child. Like her,
many HIV positive children had a day out.

MUNCH TO WIN: Let the race begin. Photo: K.R. Deepak

CHENNAI (Hindu): For the 50
children of Francois-Xavier Bagnoud India (FXB) Suraksha, it was
one of the best days of their lives.
“I have never had so much fun,”
said a beaming six-year-old Geetha,
who is an HIV positive child. Like
her, many HIV positive children had
a day out at Vaisakhi Jala Udyanam at
a programme organised by Spark, an
organisation of students from Gayatri
Vidya Parishad, recently.
Several events like drawing competition, dancing, singing, musical
chair, spoon race and biscuit race
were held for the children as part
of the social activities conducted by
Spark. The 24 core team members

cheered the bunch of kids who enjoyed themselves during the day-long
event. Accompanied by their parents,
the little ones took part in the events
with enthusiasm. It was an emotional
moment for many of the parents, who
captured the event on camera. The
event was organised with the support of sub-juniors of GVP College,
Razzmatazz and FXB India Suraksha. Spark, a group started by the
final year students of GVP, conducts
similar activities every month. The
members believe that it gives a sense
of purpose to them and also immense
satisfaction to spend time with the less
privileged section of the society.

Manhattan. With a
By Ashish Kumar Sen
reputation for conPicking peaches sounds
verting obsolete
like an idyllic activity, but
commercial buildit wasn’t for Kash Gill. The
ings into residenson of a bus mechanic from
tial ones, Malhotra
village Lakshian in Punjab,
bagged the Federal
he grew up in an America
Archive building
where great dreams colproject in downlided with hard realities. His
town Manhattan,
father, who like so many
turning it into a
other eager Indians went to
much-sought-after
the United States in 1967
apartment buildin search of a better life,
ing. His firm has
drove a tractor at an orchard
won prominent dein Yuba City, California.
sign awards.
His mother picked peaches.
J o s e p h
By the time he was seven,
Melookaran, the
Gill was picking them too.
son of a farmer in
Back then, farm labourers
the small town of
earned around $7 for a bin
Koratty in Thrissur
of peaches and the Gills
district in Kerala,
usually managed five to six
came after workbins a day. “As I walked up
ing back home as a
and down the ladder pickchartered accouning peaches, a 50-pound
tant at a multinabag strapped around my
tional firm, but his
neck in the middle of a hot
beginnings were
afternoon, I would push
not much easier.
myself to fill more bins beHis Indian expericause that meant a few more
ence dismissed by
dollars,” he recalls. That
American employperseverance perhaps exers, he took up the
plains why Gill was sworn
in as the first Indian-Amer- A life ripe as peaches Didar Singh Bains with his daughter in their home in Yuba City, California first job offered: of
a shoe salesman.
ican mayor of Yuba City in (left). Reluctant American Architect Avinash Malhotra and wife on a holiday in the ’60s.
Fearing his father’s
November 2009.
wrath, he didn’t tell
Perseverance, and educahim about it. But
tion, he says. “I knew eduAmerican farm owners. “Farming is Whenever architecture student Avication was going to be my way out, in our genes. They hired the Punjabis nash Malhotra, who came in 1966, later, he did get a job at an accountor else I would be doing hard labour first,” Bains says, with more than a bought an electrical appliance, he ing firm, and rose steadily thereafter.
for the rest of my life,” says Gill. After hint of pride in his voice.
and his wife made
graduating from Yuba Community
Not all stories are as inspirational, certain it was dual
College, he got a degree in agricultur- but there’s little doubt that the restless, voltage so that they
al business from California State Uni- mobile Indians of the ’60s, ’70s and could use it when
versity at Chico, and another graduate ’80s, bearing the brunt of racism in they returned to Indegree later. Changing tracks, he America, have come a long way— dia. But fate kept
went into banking and finance, and and are reaping the benefits. “Today, them in America.
is now a senior vice-president at the Indian-Americans are seen as the Malhotra’s father
Butte Community Bank. When he’s ‘premium minority’,” says Prakash fell ill on a visit to
not in office, Gill swaps his suit and Khatri, who served as the US’s first the US and he was
tie for a pair of jeans and shirt and can ombudsman for Citizenship and Im- forced to stay on for
be found on his farm where he grows, migration Services in the department treatment.
yes peaches, along with prunes and of homeland security, formed during
After working
walnuts. “Farming,” he explains, “is George W. Bush’s administration.
at an architecture
in my blood.”
His own family is a much travelled firm in New York,
It is in Didar Singh Bains’s blood one, moving to the US from Lusaka, he won a full-tutoo. Like Gill’s, his is not the oft-heard Zambia, in 1976, but originally from ition scholarship
story of brilliant Indian IT profes- Navsari town in Gujarat, where Kha- to Columbia Unisionals striking gold in America, but tri’s father worked for a bus company versity’s graduate
an earlier one of children of peasant and his mother was a weaver. In school of archistock making a place for themselves the US, his parents bought a small tecture. But since
in a new land with little else than grit. motel in Daytona Beach, Florida. A Malhotra had arBains spent his early years helping teenaged Khatri helped his family rived with just $22,
his brother farm in their Punjab vil- sweep rooms, paint, do laundry and he had to earn a
lage, Nangal Khurd. In 1958, at the even clean toilets. But the aftermath living as well. So
age of 19, he moved to the US. He of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81 he took up a partstills remembers the date on which made life particularly tough—they time job as a draftshe got his US visa: March 13. But faced angry taunts because Ameri- man, and drove a
little did he know then that it would cans couldn’t distinguish between cab on weekends.
be his ticket to prosperity. Today, Iranians and Indians. “Our cars were “It was necessary
California-based Bains is the wealthi- scratched up with the words ‘Go to keep our son in
est peach farmer in North America. Home’,” recalls Khatri. It was this nursery school, and
He, his wife Santi Kaur and their experience that convinced him to go was a great experichildren own vast tracts of farmland to law school and stand up for the ence, besides,” he
on which they grow peaches, prunes, rights of others. In 1984, at the age of explains. Today,
almonds and walnuts. A meteoric rise 22, he became the youngest attorney those days are just a
for a one-time farm labourer who admitted to the Florida bar, and cur- nostalgic memory
put in 10-12-hour days for a paltry rently serves as president and CEO of for Malhotra, who
70 cents an hour—driving tractors, KPK Global Solutions, a DC-based heads a team of arirrigating fields and pruning trees. consulting firm on immigration.
chitects and designIndian immigrants like him had to
Some others came only to pick up ers at his own firm,
compete with Americans, Mexicans degrees and leave, and then found Avinash K. Maland Japanese for agricultural jobs, their lives taking uncharted paths. hotra Architects, in
but they quickly earned the respect of

By 1994, Melookaran was able to set
up MA Chartered, which provides
information technology consulting
and network security and configuration solutions. His firm has operations
in multiple states, and also an office in India. The crowning moment
came when the one-time shoe-seller
found himself appointed, by the Bush
administration, to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Many of these successful IndianAmericans have looked back, even as
they have gone forward. Melookaran
supports charities in Kerala that mentor young orphans. On a recent visit
to his family’s dilapidated home in
Navsari, Khatri was moved by the
realisation of what his dad, Ishverlal
Khatri, had accomplished in a few
decades. “Instead of crying about
his situation, he went forward and
changed the life of not just an entire
family, but a community too, because many others followed in those
footsteps.” Malhotra, meanwhile, is
making plans to return to India, in
a new manifestation of his restless
energy and drive.
Bains, who sponsored close to
1,000 people from his village and
neighbouring areas to settle in the US,
is clear that making it to America was
his lucky break, and if he were to be
born again, he has no doubts about
where he would want to be: “I hope
it is in the United States,” he says. But
with Indian genes, clearly.

Bharti Wal-Mart Opens Third Wholesale
Store in Punjab, Selling Food and Goods
JALANDHAR: (IF) Bharti Wal-Mart, the
50:50 joint venture between Bharti Enterprises
and Walmart Stores Inc has recently opened its
third BestPrice Modern Wholesale cash andcarry store in Punjab at Jalandhar. The opening ceremony was attended by Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal,
Hon’ble Deputy
Chief Minister of
Punjab.
Spread over
63,000 square
feet, the store at Jalandhar will stock
over 5,400 items,
including a wide
range of fresh,
frozen and chilled
foods, fruits and
vegetables, dry
groceries, personal and home care,
hotel and restaurant supplies, clothing, office supplies and other
general merchandise items, which are available
at competitive wholesale prices, allowing retailers and business owners to lower their cost of
operations.
Speaking at the ocassion, Rajan Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Wal-Mart said, “We are
delighted at the launch of our third BestPrice
Modern Wholesale cash and-carry store. This
launch underlines our commitment to contribute
to the economic growth of Punjab by offering a
wide range of quality products to kirana stores,

retail chains and other institutions at the lowest
prices as well as creating sourcing linkages with
farmers and small manufacturers. The Best Price
Modern Wholesale and Bharti Retail’s easyday
stores across the state are also providing employment opportunities to thousands of youth and
women in this emerging
sector.”
Raj Jain, MD and CEO,
Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd
said, “It gives us immense pleasure to launch
our third store within four
months of unveiling our
second store in Zirakpur. Bharti Wal-Mart has
invested close to USD
25 Million in Punjab.
We will continue to offer quality products as
best prices, particularly
to institutions and SMEs,
including kirana stores.
We will also work closely with farmers to
improve the quality of their yield and increase
their remunerations. We are also committed to
building a strong and efficient supply chain that
would benefit the consumer as we save people
money so they can live better. We believe that
this process can be strengthened and hastened
if we were also allowed to invest in front-end
retailing and are optimistic that the government,
equally committed to working for the benefits of
the farmer and consumer, will open up foreign
direct investment for multi-brand retailing.”

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (JFL) is planning
to invest Rs.5-6 crore in setting up a 100 per
cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka by the end of the
current fiscal. The move follows the decision
of its sub-franchisee in Sri
Lanka to shut the five stores
it operated.
“Sri Lanka is a viable
market for us. The country’s
economy is growing and we
are upbeat about the market.
As our Sri Lankan franchisee
has decided to shut down the
stores, we have an opportunity to venture directly into
Sri Lanka,” said Ajay Kaul,
CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited.
The company, Kaul said, was also planning
to expand in Bangladesh. “The first store in
Bangladesh will roll out in the next fiscal,” he
added.
On the company’s plans to bring more interna-

Indo American News • Friday, August 20 , 2010

Sales Confidence for Sale

No matter what you do for a living—
you’re in sales. We’re all in sales—all the
time. Everything is a sales pitch. When
you give your opinion on a conference call,
you’re selling an idea. When you negotiate
breakfast options with your kids, you’re
selling a product. Heck, when you update
Twitter you’re selling yourself.
Growing your business is a constant sales
pitch. You have to seem larger and more
experienced than you are. You have to take
jobs that will stretch and force your company to grow. You have to stick your neck
out. You have to say “sure we can do that”
first and then check with the powers that be
to make sure that you can.Selling yourself
is the exact same game. What’s for sale is
YOU. If you want someone to take a leap
of faith on you, you must act larger, more
passionate and more experienced than you
feel. And it’s not easy to do. Most of us feel
awkward when we put ourselves out there.
You know exactly what I’m talking
about. When you stick your neck out (and
they say yes), you’re afraid they will fi nd
out that you’re really not all that you claim
to be. That anxious feeling is the psychological hot button of sales. It’s there and
always will be. And just like that gene that
made you lactose intolerant, it’s not going
anywhere. So you have to learn how to deal
with it. I’m feeling it right now. I’m up for
a big television gig. It is way outside my
comfort zone. Sure, I’m a CNBC contributor and I host a syndicated radio show, but
this job is with a major TV network—as
a host. I’ve never actually hosted a major
television show. And that’s where I feel like
a fraud when I say, “Take a leap of faith!
Pick Me!”

35

Do I think I can do it? You bet I do. I think
I’d knock it out of the park. But I’ve got
to sell myself first and deal with the fraud
factor later. I can’t walk into the casting and
say, “Just so we’re all clear, I’ve never really done this before, and I have my doubts,
and I just wanted to share my insecurities
with you in case I don’t measure up once
you pick me.” And neither can you. They
are hiring me for my confidence. So I’ve
got to promise that I can do something before I know that I can.
And in this economy, what people want
most from you is confidence. It’s easy to
lack confidence right now.
You are probably busy telling yourself,
“No one is buying in this economy.” You
may even be worried about your company’s viability or your own job security. This
makes selling even tougher.
The anxiousness that comes with selling
in an economy like this is simply that same
old fraud factor at work. You will always
feel awkward when you are uncertain about
how things will turn out. Always.
The first step to selling yourself— to selling confidence—is recognizing that the pit
in your stomach isn’t the economy. It’s the
fear of putting yourself out there. It just so
happens you are putting yourself out there
at a time when the economy isn’t doing so
great.The truth is, people are buying in this
economy. They are buying products, services and solutions. And they are buying
from people with confidence.
So ditch the economy as your excuse.
And pick up the phone. You may feel awkward at first, but trust me. The person on
the other end of the line wants exactly what
you’ve got: a huge jolt of confidence.

tional brands to India, Kaul said, “We are in discussion with a handful of brands. In fact, to bring
more international brands in the country, we
changed our name from Domino’s Pizza India
Limited to Jubilant FoodWorks
Limited early this year... we have
also gone public.” Domino’s
will open 70 new stores in India
this fiscal.
JFL is primarily a food-service
company and currently operates Domino’s Pizza outlets in
India. Incorporated in 1995, the
company focusses on the home
delivery and takeaway business
model.
JFL has a master franchise agreement with
Domino’s Pizza International, which provides
it with the exclusive right to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza delivery stores and the associated trademarks in the operation of stores in
India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

MUMBAI (HT): It appears a scene straight out
of an Indian version of Yes
Minister. The agricultural
minister (Naseeruddin
Shah) in the room is one
of those suave, telegenic
politician faces we’re used
to watching endlessly gab
on late night news debates.
His young colleague, a bureaucrat, is quick to figure
the embarrassing enormity of a small situation at
hand: it’s the story of one
farmer attempting suicide
that every news channel
has played up across netnon-hero Hiralal, the
works.
farmer under fatal debt.
The minister, forced
His village in fictional
to intervene, asks for
Mukhya Pradesh makes
that farmer to be passed
for thousands of such
on an Indira Awas, or a
across India where life’s
‘Jawahar Rozgar’, or an
cheap; time’s still; air,
‘Annapoorna’…. Naah!
inescapably dull. It’s
Each of those government
the sort of place where
grants, the IAS officer tells Reviews suggest that Peepli is as good a black comedy people simply live off
him, concern the home- as Jaane bhi de Yaaro, released in 1983. Right: Director the motto, ‘I am, where
less, the unemployed, the Anusha Rizvi (center) with actors Onkar Das (left) and I am’; suitably divide the
starving… He says, “Cen- Aamir Khan.
day between ganja, other
tral government schemes
simple English, a tube-well.
idleness, and I guess, the
don’t cover farmers who are still
Jawahar, Indira, Lal Bahadur, these wait for the monsoons. Life reveals
alive. They only cover those dead!” are of course gift vouchers for In- itself to them completely, for good,
Earlier, when the local MLA had dia’s political class that counts its better or worse. The acceptance is
heard of the same story building up personal worth in public patronage, complete. Natha’s eyes, already dead,
into something big, he’d ordered his not public service. Everybody rightly show no signs of curiosity.
minions to deliver to the dying man’s loves a good drought. One, obscure
The firm test of a film set around the
house a “Lal Bahadur”. It means in Natha, by the way, is that John Doe, everyman is when you just can’t tell if

those before you on screen aren’t the
people they’re meant to be. Lovers of
Italian neo-realism, for instance, were
deeply upset to learn that the cast of
Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali had
actually comprised auditioned per
performers. Like that dying old woman
in Pather Panchali, the dowdy village
grandmother in this film almost jolts
you up for how ‘unreally’ real she is.
I’m absolutely certain you’ve met the
numbed Natha before.
His ecstatic brother (Raghuveer Yadav, one of India’s most under-rated
actors) tells him: “Na marneka handpump, marneka soch! (Hand-pump
for staying alive, imagine gifts of
death!).” The brothers have reasons
to feel lucky. They’re currently under
national spotlight. Television only
goes where some research or ratings

point them to, news merely
being a function of the lowest common denominator’s
pleasure.
Peepli just happens to be
a village that falls under a
constituency up for a byelection. The opposition
would like Natha dead.
The government in power would prefer him alive.
Both seek mileage from this
rare event, while various TV
stations and their ambitious
reporters break each other’s
heads over broken news.
The satire is irresistible; the
subtext, compelling. And
yet neither shows itself up in
anyformofself-seriousness.
The comic writing (Anusha
Rizvi) is immaculately inspired.
India’s mass media, whether in the
ridiculousness of Hindi television, or
even excitable super-stars of English
news, leave little scope for parody.
The risk involves spoofing a spoof
itself. Journalists, and why, their consumers as well, will instantly recognise dark truths in these intended
laughs. Sometimes facts are almost as
outrageous as limits of fiction.
This makes the film then the most
intelligent and humorous Indian
commentary in long. It is the only true
black comedy in Hindi to appear in 27
years. If you’re wondering what happened in 1983, well, two journalists
and a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Peepli’s
right up there! I don’t know a better
compliment to pay.

More that 62 Dead in Karachi Political Violence,
Deepening Fears of Instability in Country Grow
KARACHI (TOI): More than six to seven trucks parked under a bridge tions in the city were still closed on
a dozen more people were killed were also burnt,” Karachi police chief Wednesday morning.
“The situation is not good. I will
overnight in Pakistan’s Karachi, Waseem Ahmed told Reuters.
Hospital sources and officials said a to- wait for a few hours to see how it
deepening fears of instability in the
over- goes and if other people in the market
commercial hub after the killing of tal of at least 12 people were killed over
a member of the dominant political night in shootings as the violence grip- also open shops, then I will as well,”
said Muhammad Jawaid,
party in the city.
standing outside his closed
Sixty-two
bakery.
people have
Trading was once again
been killed since
dull
at the Karachi Stock
Monday, police
Exchange, which closed
and officials
an hour early on Tuesday
said, following
amid security concerns.
the assassination
The main index was, howof Raza Haider,
ever, up 0.69 percent by
a lawmaker in
11:55 a.m. (0655 GMT).
the Muttahida
“The attendance in the
Quami Movemarket
is still very thin and
ment (MQM).
the turnover is likely to be
The government
low again today as people
blamed TaliPhoto: Shakil Adil are still scared,” said Asad
ban insurgents,
ofand the banned This bus was set on fire by protestors after the killing of Iqbal, chief investment of
militant group the leader of Mutahida Quami movement in Pakistan last ficer at Faysal Asset Management Ltd.
Sipah-e-Sahaba week
Karachi has a long hisPakistan (SSP),
tory
of
ethnic,
religious and sectarian
ping
the
city
since
Haider
was
gunned
for his killing.
Some analysts said violence down along with his bodyguard while violence. It was a main target of al
could ultimately hurt the already attending a funeral escalated. More Qaeda-linked militants after the Sept.
struggling economy. Karachi is than 150 were wounded. The MQM has 11, 2001, attacks on the United States,
when Pakistan joined the US-led
home to the country’s main port, called for three days of mourning.
forEarly on Wednesday, unknown peo- campaign against militancy, and for
the central bank and the stock
exchange. Those concerns are ple set fire to several mobile phone eigners were attacked in the city sevfuelled by the flight of Taliban shops in a main market in the city of 18 eral times. Including the killings this
militants to Karachi, a teeming city million people. Police said more than 50 week, officials say at least 214 people
that is easy to hide in, after army of
of- vehicles have been burnt while dozens have been killed in targeted attacks
fensives against their strongholds of shops torched since Haider’s slaying. since the start of the year, although
Dozens of people have been arrested on analysts and political parties say the
in the northwest.
“Four people were shot dead in charges of violence, they said. Fearing number is likely much higher.
one incident late last night, while more violence, most shops and fuel sta-

Indo American News • Friday, August 20 , 2010

37

Pakistan to Get UN World Aid
for Millons of Flood Victims

KARACHI - The scale and cost of
the flooding disaster in Pakistan, rated
by as the the worst devastation he has
ever seen, look set to worsen even fur
further. More heavy rain is forecast for
the Punjab and a fresh flood wave is
head south down the Indus River.

The UN will allocate a further
US$10 million from its Central
Emergency Response Fund, bringing its contribution to $27 million
since the crisis began. India has of
offered $5 million in aid to Pakistan for
relief efforts.

Aarti Sequeira won The Next Food
Network Star as revealed during
the season six finale last night.
Born in Bombay, India, and raised

in Dubai, UAE, Aarti’s culinary
inspiration stems from her cultural
background, family recipes, and
never-ending food experiments.
Aarti will now host her very own
Food Network show, Aarti Party,
set to premiere this Sunday, August 22nd at 12pm ET/PT. She
will share approachable and delicious ways to enhance American
favorites with simple but unique
Indian influences. Whether she’s
sprucing up everyday pulled pork
sandwiches and perfectly roasted
chicken or taking classic bread
pudding and basic red lentils to
new heights, Aarti cleverly combines the familiar with the exotic
to create mouthwatering meals.
No matter the occasion, Aarti Party promises great food and endless
fun for home cooks everywhere.
For more information, recipes, and
videos, visit: www.foodnetwork.
com/aartiparty.
“Aarti has that all-too-rare combination we seek in our stars: a passionate food expert who is warm,
radiant, fun, and relatable,” said
Bob Tuschman, General Manager
and Senior Vice President, Programming & Production, Food
Network. “Aarti also brings a new
world of flavors to Food Network
and is perfectly suited for viewers
seeking new inspirations.”
Born in Bombay, India and
raised in Dubai, UAE, Aarti’s lifelong appreciation for food began
at a young age. Growing up in a
traditional Indian Catholic fam-

ily, Aarti spent Fridays dining on
fish and Sundays at church. Her
fondest food memories include her
father’s weekly trips to the mar
market for fresh fish and produce, her
mother’s daily recipe creations,
and even pretending to host her
own cooking show – an unexpected glimpse into her future as
a Food Network star. After work
working as a producer at CNN and
completing several freelance gigs
in the entertainment industry, the
Northwestern University journal
journal-

ism graduate trained at The New
School of Cooking in Culver City,
California and earned her professional cooking certificate in 2007.
She further explored her culinary
calling by starting a blog and online cooking-variety show called,
“Aarti Paarti” in 2008. Aarti and
her husband, Brendan, currently
live in Los Angeles. Her parents
and youngest sister live in Bangalore, India, and her middle sister
lives in Phoenix.

Italy’s Ferrero to Set Up a $125 Million Twenty-Day Mysore Racing
2nd Chocolate Confectionary in India Season Starts on August 19

NEW DELHI (ET): Ferrero, the
$8- bn Italian confectionery giant,
has firmed up plans for a new production facility in Maharashtra with
an investment of over $125 mn to
whip up some of its popular brands
that include Rocher and
Kinder.
“The company’s new
facility will be located
near the existing plant
at Baramati, near Pune.
Ferrero has already invested over $75 mn in
India so far,” said Diljeet
Titus, an advisor to the
Italian company in India.
“The new production
facility will be established by the end of
2011,” Titus, also the
founder and managing
partner of leading corporate law firm
Titus and Co, told mediapersons.
Apart from Ferrero Rocher, the
Italian firm owns several popular
chocolate brands like Ferrero Rondnoir, Ferrero Raffaello and Ferrero
Giotto. Among them, Rocher, the
crispy, yet creamy chocolate with a
hazelnut-centre wrapped in a gold

foil, is the most popular.
“The idea is to tickle the palate of
Indians with tasty offerings that go
beyond the popular Ferrero Rocher.
The location of the plant is also
suited well to source most of the

material locally,” Titus said.
Ferrero -- which has also started
targeting children in India with
Kinder Surprise, that combines a
chocolate egg, a surprise filling and
a toy -- runs its existing unit through
a 100-percent subsidiary, Imsofer
Manufacturing, that started production two years ago.

“In just second year of operation the
company’s annual turnover has risen
to over $170 mn. It is evident there is
a huge potential demand in India for
hi-end chocolates and confectionery,”
said Titus, also a top officer-bearer
with Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry.
According to him,
sending a packaged box
of Ferrero Rocher chocolates is also becoming commonplace on
festivals and occasions
such as Diwali, Eid and
Christmas, or even along
with a wedding invitation or birthday card.
Globally, the familyowned group is headed
by its chief executives
Pietro and Giovanni Ferrero and operates through 38 trading
companies, 18 factories and around
21,500 employees.
The 60-year-old group’s other popular brands include Nutella chocolatehazelnut spread, Tic Tac mint pellets,
Kinder Bueno wafer chocolate bar and
Mon Cheri dark chocolate with liqueur
and cherry.

MYSORE (SS) :A total stake money of Rs 4.6 crore will beoffered for
the 20-day Mysore races that commenced August 19.
Newly elected Mysore race club
Chairman Mr Chanduranga Kantharaj Urs told reporters for Derby
and other classic races, the stake
money has
been increased
and the winner
would earnRs
37 lakh. The
stake money for
both 1000 and
2000 Guineas
races was also
being increased
from Rs 10 lakh
to 20 lakh, and
for Mysore million from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
More then 700 horses were expected to participate in the season and
trainers of Bangalore and Mysore,
apart from outstation trainers will be
racing their wards.
He said the betting terminals have
been upgraded with new software.
Thermal printers and scanners had
been installed to increase the speed of
totalisator transactions. Fifteen new
betting terminals have been added to
cater to more punters.

He announced that the grand stand
had been renovated to ensure that
punters had comfortable seating and
viewing arragments.
The following are the important
classic races days during the season.
The Mysore Million (Grade III) -August 20, the Karnataka Race Horse

Please note: The above section for Religious Services has been provided as a free service for many
years. We are now updating this section to make it informative for our readers. To help provide this
service on an ongoing weekly basis, we are making these listings available for a nominal annual
charge. Give prominence to your religious services with a special block ad for an annual cost of only
$150. That is only $2.88 per week. Thank you for your ongoing support. Regular business card size
$30 / week.

RAJASTHAN: (NV) After prolonged deliberations Government
of India has decided to reintroduce
the Cheetah in the country. As many
as eighteen cheetahs will be sourced
from Africa and will be introduced
into three sites,
viz. KunoPalpur Wildlife
Sanctuary, Nauradehi Wildlife
Sanctuary (both
in Madhya
Pradesh) and Shahgarh landscape
near the international border in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. A project costing $
65 million has been formulated and is
likely to be implemented within three
years. Each of the three sites will be
allocated $ 22 million for preparation
and restoration. Presumably each
site will get three pairs of imported
cheetahs which will be nurtured and
encouraged to breed under the super
supervision of wildlife experts.
The decision was taken on the basis
of the recommendations of wildlife
experts, national and international,
who met at Gajner in Rajasthan in
September 2009. The rationale be-

hind the decision was restoration of
India’s natural heritage for “ethical
and ecological” reasons. In the words
attributed to Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Minister for Forests & Environment, “It is important to bring back
cheetah, as it will restore grasslands
of India. The way tiger restores for
forest ecosystem, snow leopard restores
mountain ecosystem, Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers,
(the) same way cheetah will restore
grasslands of the country.” (For a
long time it has been felt that the Indian grasslands have been degrading
because of over-grazing by antelopes
and, of course, livestock.) Moreover,
revival of the cheetah will bestow
on India the distinction of being the
only country with six of the eight big
cats – a classification that is not quite
scientific but is informally used to
distinguish the larger felid species
from smaller ones. With the exception of cougar and jaguar, the country
will host the cheetah along with other
big cats – lions, tigers, leopards, snow
leopards and clouded leopards.
Once upon a time India used to
host cheetahs – a name that has been
derived from the Sanskrit word “chitrakaya” meaning speckled – in great
numbers. Emperor Akbar is reported
to have maintained a stable of them in
scores, tamed and trained for hunting

antelopes. Even in the British colonial
days these were kept in captivity
and were mainly used for hunting,
thus gaining another name – Hunting Leopards. Over time, however,
the animals were mercilessly hunted
down – like lions and tigers. Besides,
the loss and degradation of their
habitat contributed to their complete
elimination from India by the middle
of the last century.
Extinction of the species in India
made it lose the “Indian” prefix.
The Asiatic Cheetah (sub species:
Acinonyx Jubatus Venaticus) ear
earlier used to be largely known as “Indian Cheetah”. Currently, however,
it has lost even its “Asiatic” prefix
as it is mainly concentrated in Iran
and, hence, is commonly known as
“Iranian Cheetah”. Once roaming
over the wilds of a huge range, from
Middle East to the entire Indian subcontinent, the (Asiatic) Cheetah is
now mostly confined to Iran in its
Kavir desert region. There have been
some stray sightings in Balochistan
and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.
According to researchers, not more
than 100 Asiatic cheetahs are now
estimated to be around, 70-odd of

which are in Iran.
Reports had earlier appeared about
India’s keenness to relocate a few
Iranian cheetahs in reserves that are
found suitable for them. Perhaps, it
was felt that belonging to the same
sub-species, the Iranian cheetahs will
have a greater chance of survival in
Indian conditions. It seems, the idea
had to be abandoned because the
Iranian cheetahs are critically endangered and withdrawal of even a few
from the acutely limited stock would
threaten the survival of the species.
No wonder, the country pitched on
procuring them from Africa where
most of the game parks – and there are
surfeit of them mostly located South
of Sahara – have cheetahs in good
numbers. Considered endangered,
the African cheetah’s population is
currently estimated to be around
12000 – enough for India to try and
have eighteen of them relocated from
there. Namibia is currently hotspot
for the Cheetah as the efforts made
by Cheetah Conservation Fund are
increasingly proving to be successful.
Nonetheless, as cheetahs in Namibia
are reported to be sharing their habitat
with farmers, man-animal conflicts
are frequent leading to frequent kills.
It has been estimated that all the
three sites taken together have the
potential to host 160 cheetahs, with

Kuno-Palpur having the maximum
potential – of hosting 70 cheetahs.
Realisation of the potential will, however, depend on how well the sites are
managed and made conducive to the
animal’s proliferation.
There have, however, been reservations about the whole process. Firstly,
of course, misgivings are always
there about introduction of an alien
species, an effort which not only is
dicey, it also can cause all kinds of
complications. Besides, the Indian
record of wildlife conservation is
not quite enviable. The country’s
“Big Five” are under serious threat.
The Asiatic Lion, numbering around
350, is concentrated in one sanctuary
and cohabits with humans and their
livestock. One single mishap could
wipe off the entire species. Tigers, at
the last count, were a precarious 1411
in number. Eleven adults have been
lost in the first five months of 2010
along with a few cubs. The elephants
are under threat from poachers, villagers and vehicles, including railway
trains. The rhinos are vulnerable and
are still under threat from poachers
who are keen on their horn – supposedly an aphrodisiac. Leopards
are being lost virtually at the rate of one
every day. A cat comparable to cheetah,
though belonging to
genus “panthera”,
has not been cared
for so far, with no
conservation policy
for it yet in place. Its
shrinking prey-base
and habitat is driving it towards human
settlements resulting
in conflicts in which
it invariably loses.
Prerna Singh Bindra, a well-known
naturalist, author
and columnist, feels that the way the
leopards are being killed it could well
beat the tiger in the race to extinction.
In the first 50 days of 2010 India lost
as many as 60 leopards – more than
one a day.
Worse, both the states, viz. Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan, in the sanctuaries of which cheetahs are to be
relocated, have had indifferent record
of providing protection to big cats.
Rajasthan had its debacle in Sariska
Tiger Reserve as did the Madhya
Pradesh wildlife administration had
its own in Panna Reserve. In both the
reserves, immensely popular as they
were, tiger became extinct despite the
local Reserve administration’s claims
of their presence.
The record of the forest departments of various states in conservation of wildlife, therefore, is nothing
to write home about. In this scenario
one views the decision to introduce
African Cheetah in Indian grasslands
with trepidation. Relocation per se
may not be a problem as Indian wildlifers have acquired some expertise,
having relocated a number of tigers
to Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserves
and some rhinos from Kaziranga National Park to a neighbouring game
park. After relocation the cheetahs
may be nursed well enough and may
even proliferate. But, what eventually

would be vital is how the animals are
monitored for their wellbeing and
provided the necessary protection,
particularly from poachers. Generally
weak and, one dare say, even callous,
the foresters’ lackadaisical attitude,
corruption, turf wars, inadequate and
ill-trained forest staff are the bane of
Indian game parks, protected areas

and other forests.
One can only hope that the foresters
will shake off their lethargy and pull
themselves up by their boot-straps
to face the challenge of reviving the
cheetah in the country where once
it chased chinkaras and blackbucks
with considerable freedom.

BIA Expansion Underway
BENGALURU: ((DHN
DHN)) The BanDHN
galore International Airport Limited
(BIAL) announced that it plans to
invest an additional Rs 977.90 crore
for the expansion of the Bengaluru
International Airport at Devanahalli
in two phases.
The move comes in the backdrop
of the Joint Legislature Committee
pointing out several inadequacies in
the airport. In its report, the committee
made serveral scathing observations,

to build a Terminal Two in the longrun with the provision to expand it to
36 million passengers a year in due
course, the proposal of which is with
the State Government.
Infrastructure: Airside infrastructure would also be strengthened simultaneously to cater to the increased
passenger volumes as part of the
expansion programme. The airport
premises will be spruced up, with
a revamped landscaping improving

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said it is
long awaited and he is happy that the Bangalore Airport
expansion is underway

underlining that the space available
for commercial purposes at the airport
was more than that of the space available for public/travellers . It had also
made negative observations regarding the number of boarding gates,
aero bridges, toilet facilities and the
VIP lounge space available.
The management has decided to
add new facilities that would address
the issues, while also expanding the
airport as planned earlier. According to the proposed expansion plan,
Terminal One at the airport which is
about 71,000 square metres will be
expanded by another 50,000 square
metres, to accommodate about 17
million passengers a year against 9-12
million passengers currently.
It is learnt that the BIAL Board
of Directors has proposed it to the
government, and once approved by
the latter, will take the proposal to the
Civil Aviation ministry.
The management is also planning

inDia

Indo American News • Friday, August 20 , 2010

41

Cairn to Sell Indian Oil Assets to Vedanta
On completing the purchase, Ve- growth and an expanding population
LONDON : (GN)
GN) Shareholders in
GN
Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy are danta said Cairn India, which is the are all pushing up demand.
Vedanta is under pressure over its
set for a windfall after the oil and gas country’s fourth biggest oil and gas
exploration and production company company, had the potential to almost expansion plans, however.
double current production to about
It has been forced to defend its huagreed to sell off assets in India.
man rights record over
Vedanta Resources,
plans to build a bauxite
a London-listed minmine in India’s Orissa
ing firm, will pay up to
state and an Indian
£6.1bn to acquire a stake
government panel has
of between 51 and 60%
now said that it should
in Cairn India following
not be given permisa deal negotiated in just
sion to mine there.
three weeks.
Meanwhile, some
In exchange for the huge
analysts have quessum, Vedanta’s billionaire
tioned whether Vefounder Anil Agarwal
danta, which is folgains a foothold in India’s
lowing BHP Billiton’s
oil reserves and exposure
footsteps in diversifyto a market where deing from mining to
mand is set to rise.
oil, has the expertise
“The proposed acquisition significantly enhanc- Vedanta Resources plans to spend up to $9.6 billion required to make the
es Vedanta’s position as a clinching control of Cairn India, giving billionaire mining most of Cairn India’s
natural resources cham- magnate Anil Agarwal a slice of India’s oil reserves and resources.
Shares in both Cairn
pion in India,” Mr Agar
Agar- exposure to surging demand.
and Vedanta, the latter
wal said.
of which suffered a heavy fall on the
For Cairn, the sale frees up cash 240,000 barrels of oil per day.
That equates to around a quarter of FTSE last week, have risen on news
to return to shareholders and to fund
further exploration in Greenland, India’s output, and puts Vedanta in a of the deal.
which is understood to be its next position to supply oil in an market
where industrialization, economic
big project.

the visual experience from the Inter
Interchange on the National Highway 7
right up to the Terminal building.
Briefing reporters, Chief Minister
B S Yeddyurappa said: “I am happy
that the GVK Group, which has recently acquired 29 per cent equity in
BIAL is actively pursuing the expansion of the airport. I am told that an
investment of nearly Rs 977.90 crore
is planned in two phases.”
Congratulating G V Krishna Reddy
and G V Sanjay Reddy for becoming
the Vice-Chairman and Managing
Director, respectively, Yeddyurappa
said the government hopes the expansion will be completed in 18
months as expected.
He also thanked the new management for giving due consideration
to the sentiments expressed by the
Legislature Committee and taking
steps to add new facilities besides
providing more space for the travellers including the VIPs.

DAMBULLA (Cricinfo): India’s
bowlers and Virender Sehwag led
the recovery from a dispiriting defeat
against New Zealand, helping their
team overpower Sri Lanka and secure
a bonus point to leave each of the
three sides with a win at the end of the
first round of matches. MS Dhoni’s
luckless run at the toss continued,
but Kumar Sangakkara’s decision
to bat gave India first use of favour
favourable conditions on a breezy, over
overcast Dambulla day and their bowlers
cashed in. Sehwag then followed up
with a steady innings that released the
pressure created by early wickets and
steered India to what was, in the end,
a comfortable win.
The ease with which India completed their win was in contrast to
the struggle at the start of the innings,
when batsmen found it difficult to negotiate the swing and movement their
own seamers had troubled the hosts
with. Dinesh Karthik’s edginess at the
crease gradually developed into visible frustration and the one delivery he
could have dispatched with ease, he
slashed straight to third man. India’s
two competitors for a middle-order
slot, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma,
followed in successive overs and it
appeared the Sri Lankan seamers had
set up a low-scoring thriller.
The wickets falling at the other end
prompted Sehwag to restrain himself,
except against a couple of free-hits.
He reserved punishment for deliver
deliveries that were over pitched or wide.
Those were a rarity, though, and it was
not until the sixth over that he cracked
Kulasekara for his first boundary.
There was greater reliance on timing
and using the pace of the seamers than
on raw power: Sehwag’s boundaries
down the ground were firm pushes
and not flowing drives, and the areas
through point and midwicket were
pierced with consistency by his favoured cuts and stylish whips.
Sehwag’s recovery effort was supported by Suresh Raina in a halfcentury stand that infused the innings
with fluency. Raina nudged the ball
around, and gave the more assured
Sehwag a fair share of the strike,
before a rush of blood drove him to
pull straight to deep square leg with
the score on 91.
A flurry of boundaries from Sehwag’s blade, however, crushed any
Sri Lankan hopes. Again, it was the
loose deliveries that were punished

and the momentum had swung India’s way. Suraj Randiv dropped
short and was slashed for successive
fours, and Mathews doled out long
hops, one of which was smashed
over the ropes. India were coasting
towards victory and Sehwag towards
his century, but the end was not without drama. With Sehwag on 99 and
India requiring a run for a win, Randiv
overstepped by a massive margin,
depriving Sehwag of a century even
though he was thumped over the
long-off boundary.
The ending was as dramatic as
the start of the game, when Praveen
Kumar castled Upul Tharanga with
an outswinger off the first ball of the
day. The challenge was thrown at Sri
Lanka under cloudy skies and the
batsmen struggled against the swing
and deviation off the pitch. Mahela
Jayawardene showed glimpses of
his solidity during his brief stay but
was trapped in front by a Praveen
delivery that moved back in late. Extra pace accounted for Sangakkara,
who top-edged a pull to be caught in
the deep. The assurance that featured
prominently in his knocks during
the Test series was absent during
Samaraweera’s stay; the seamers had
him hopping around until he almost
contrived to spoon a short-of-a-length
delivery to short midwicket.
Tillakaratne Dilshan was not comfortable at the crease, but countered
the swing better than the rest, whipping Praveen’s inswingers through
square leg and then latching on anything short, scoring three boundaries

Shiv Sagar

off the pull. He settled in and was at
greater ease once the left-arm spin of
Pragyan Ojha was introduced, making room to cut from the stumps and
maintain a steady flow of runs with
Angelo Mathews. But Dilshan succumbed to temptation when the ball
was tossed up, and top-edged a slogsweep to scupper a recovery he had
initiated. Ravindra Jadeja bowled a
nagging line and had Sri Lanka in fur
further trouble, dismissing Mathews and
Chamara Kapugedera with straighter
ones. Though the tail, led by Randiv,
resisted, it proved inadequate in the
wake of Sehwag’s response.

Apology to Sehwag
DAMBULLA: Sri Lanka Cricket
and offspinner Suraj Randiv have
both apologised to Virender Sehwag
for denying him a one-day century
after a deliberate no-ball from Randiv
ended the match and left the India
opener stranded on 99, despite him
hitting the delivery for six. SLC has
also asked for an enquiry in to the
incident.
Sehwag went on to criticise Randiv’s actions in the post match press
conference, and SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga called India manager Ranjib Biswal this morning to
apologise.
“Today in the morning, Sri Lanka
Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga called me up expressing his regret
about yesterday’s no-ball incident.
He expressed his regret officially and
asked me to convey it to the Indian
team, particularly to Sehwag.

LONDON: Pakistan have made
four changes - two of them enforced
- to the team that played in last week’s
defeat against England at Edgbaston.
Two middle-order batsmen, Shoaib
Malik and Umar Amin, have been
dropped to make way for Mohammad Yousuf and Yasir Hameed,
while the injured pair of Zulqarnain
Haider and Umar Gul have been
replaced by the squad’s senior wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, and the
debutant left-arm seamer, Wahab
Riaz, respectively.
While Salman Butt, Pakistan’s captain, had confirmed during his after
afternoon press conference that Yousuf
and Kamran were in line for recalls,
he had been cagey about revealing
any further news. “We could make
six changes because we have six sitting outside, but we will make only
the ones required,” he told reporters.
Later in the evening, however, dur
during the selection meeting, it was decided that the right-handed Hameed,
the reserve batsman, would come
into the side as an opener. One of
the two left-handers, Butt and Imran
Farhat, will shift down to three, with
Butt arguably the likelier given that
he is both the captain and struggling
for form at the top of the order, with
just 16 runs coming from four innings
in the first two Tests.
“Hameed is an experienced batsman. We just wanted to test the two
youngsters [Azhar Ali and Umar
Amin] because they have scored
well in domestic cricket over the
last two years,” a senior official told
Cricinfo.
Hameed, primarily an opener, returns to the Test arena after a long
gap of three years. His last outing

was against India in Bangalore at the
end of a series in which he logged 158
runs at 26.33 without registering a
half-century. But he has an aggressive
streak which, if he clicks, can release
the pressure of the new ball. At New
Road over the weekend he opened
with Azhar Ali in the rain-abandoned
match against Worcestershire and
played a few good strokes in his 27,
but generally seemed a little distracted before chasing a wide delivery
and edging it to the slips.
Though it might seem to be a dicey
move to include Hameed, the team
management had been left with little
alternative after a summer of constant
batting failures. The former captain
Malik was especially disappointing
as he failed to lead by example and a
sum of 89 runs in the three Tests in the
summer did not give any confidence
to the tour selectors to retain him.
Amin, who made his debut at Lord’s
against Australia in July, showed enthusiasm but was initially defeated by
a series of unplayable deliveries, but
later he failed to apply himself.
On the bowling front Riaz was
preferred over the right-armer Tanvir
Ahmed because of the prevailing
overcast conditions. Riaz, lanky and
tall, has enough pace to make the
ball bounce and move, something he
showed in the practice match against
Leicestershire last month. “Both are
good bowlers - one is very good newball bowler and the other is very good
with the old ball,” Butt said earlier in
the day.
Pakistan 1 Yasir Hameed, 2 Imran
Farhat, 3 Salman Butt (capt), 4 Azhar
Ali, 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Umar
Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8
Mohammad Amir, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10